Pakistani activist, age 14, shot by Taliban

Gunmen have wounded a 14-year-old rights activist who has campaigned for girls' education in the Swat Valley in north-west Pakistan.

Malala Yousafzai was attacked on her way home from school in Mingora, the region's main town.

She came to public attention in 2009 by writing a diary for BBC Urdu about life under Taliban militants who had taken control of the valley.

A Pakistani Taliban spokesman told the BBC they carried out the attack.

Ehsanullah Ehsan told BBC Urdu that they attacked her because she was anti-Taliban and secular, adding that she would not be spared.

Malala Yousafzai was travelling with at least one other girl when she was shot, but there are differing accounts of how events unfolded.

One report, citing local sources, says a bearded gunman stopped a car full of schoolgirls, and asked for Malala Yousafzai by name, before opening fire.

But a police official also told BBC Urdu that unidentified gunmen opened fire on the schoolgirls as they were about to board a van or bus.

She was hit in the head and, some reports say, in the neck area by a second bullet, but is now in hospital and is reportedly out of danger. Another girl who was with her at the time was also injured.
'Courage'

Malala Yousafzai was just 11 when she was writing her diary, two years after the Taliban took over the Swat Valley, and ordered girls' schools to close.

In the diary, which she kept for the BBC's Urdu service under a pen name, she exposed the suffering caused by the militants as they ruled.

She used the pen-name Gul Makai when writing the diary. Her identity only emerged after the Taliban were driven out of Swat and she later won a national award for bravery and was also nominated for an international children's peace award.

Correspondents say she earned the admiration of many across Pakistan for her courage in speaking out about life under the brutal rule of Taliban militants.

One poignant entry reflects on the Taliban decree banning girls' education: "Since today was the last day of our school, we decided to play in the playground a bit longer. I am of the view that the school will one day reopen but while leaving I looked at the building as if I would not come here again."

She has since said that she wants to study law and enter politics when she grows up. "I dreamt of a country where education would prevail," she said.
Taliban driven out

The BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad says that Malala Yousafzai was a public figure who didn't shy away from risks and had strong support from her parents for her activism. Indeed, her father, who is a school teacher, expressed his pride in her campaigning.

In a statement about the attack, Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said: "We have to fight the mindset that is involved in this. We have to condemn it... Malala is like my daughter, and yours too. If that mindset prevails, then whose daughter would be safe?"

The Taliban, under the notorious militant cleric Maulana Fazlullah, took hold of the Swat Valley in late 2007 and remained in de facto control until they were driven out by Pakistani military forces during an offensive in 2009.

While in power they closed girls' schools, promulgated Sharia law and introduced measures such as banning the playing of music in cars.

Since they were ejected, there have been isolated militant attacks in Swat but the region has largely remained stable and many of the thousands of people who fled during the Taliban years have returned.

What really disgusts me about the whole thing is how the Taliban is flat out bragging that they did it. There's a complete lack of remorse that they critically wounded a child and that she shouldn't be spared because of her age or sex.

I probably shouldn't be surprised by Taliban brutality at this point but it still astounds me.

That girl is so awesome, I hope she recovers well and can continue working towards a better Pakistan.

To declare that a personal, inner experience gives certainty about the workings of the universe is to assign far too much value to one’s subjective sense of conviction.
I’m not that arrogant.
The brain, marvelous instrument though it is, isn’t infallible. It can misfire, seize or hallucinate, and it can do so in a way that’s utterly indistinguishable from reality to the person experiencing it.

Indeed lol...
What happened is disgusting, but this is classic propaganda, trying to "demonize" the "enemy" to the eyes of the public so they can keep justifying military actions that do far more damage than that single event.
Also, i doubt a 14 year old is capable of "being an activist" for many reasons...

You do realize that in the 50-60s all those countries were quite stable, developing and comparable to the west?
Check what happened around then, and who did it, and you will realize all those "monsters" are our creation.

Not much to discuss, but I sense that this will turn into religion bashing.

Always does, im atheist and the sheer ignorance towards whole groups based on the actions of few, while turning a blind eye to the actions of their own religion disgusts me.
Christian and zion fanatics are just as bad, they just dont show up as much on the news.
Or do people truly believe that anyone who is islamic is "evil"? that is... narrow.

What really disgusts me about the whole thing is how the Taliban is flat out bragging that they did it. There's a complete lack of remorse that they critically wounded a child and that she shouldn't be spared because of her age or sex.

If people knew the enemy they would of been wiped off the face of the earth by now. Not sure why people try to defend the actions of these cavemen.

"Not much to discuss, but I sense that this will turn into religion and country bashing."

"Not much to discuss, but I sense that this will turn into religion and country bashing."

You cant ignore a pattern forever.

No. You can't; however, a lot of people seem to blend, blur, and move the lines/distinctions between the Taliban, all Middle Eastern people, and the religions which they follow as well as the people that practice these religions across the world. Thus, discussions rarely end well.